'Section 32: A Report on the Human Service and Criminal Pathways of People Diagnosed with Mental Health Disorder and Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System Who Have Received Orders Under the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 (NSW)'

A brief discussion of the MHDCD Project is appropriate in order to contextualise the Section 32 MHDCD Project. The MHDCD Project concerns a cohort of 2,731 men and women, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, who have been in prison in New South Wales and whose mental health disorder and cognitive disability diagnoses are known (the 'MHDCD cohort'). The cohort was drawn from the 2001 NSW Inmate Health Survey (IHS) and from the NSW Department of Corrective Services State-wide Disability Service Database (SDD). Ethics approval was obtained from all of the relevant ethics bodies, including from the University of New South Wales Human Research Ethics Committee.